So I watched it because I turned off the skills as it was boring as shit. I didn't mind it at all, I don't care if they want to do this.
However, a few talking points I read..
1. No one is saying they should be compared to men it's different
Well... That's not true. Every talking point is about a women's NHL with pay that matches. Therefore, it is going to draw direct comparisons to men and men's hockey. When this happens, there is a stark contrast in quality of play. Even as someone who watches more AHL games than any other non NHL hockey, the quality of the game was jarring. It looked very low level. Skaters almost looked like they were in slow motion.
2. It's not pandering
Well, it is in a way. It's not pandering to showcase the women's best of the best and let them showcase that. It is however to pretend they are just as good as men or whatever. Listening to the announcers was kind of laughably bad. You can support women following their dreams without trying to pretend that they could lace em up in the NHL if only they were given the chance.
3. NHL should make a women's league
Hmm.. I don't see it. The league is struggling to keep 31 NHL franchises going right now. If they add a massive revenue loss (which it will be) in the sake of "equality" it is no longer equality, it is pandering. Going back to my AHL talk, AHL teams struggle to sell out regularly with only a few thousand seats and cheap as dirt tickets. AHL teams usually host a ton of upcoming stars and NHLers to see and this is still a problem.
So how do we expect their games to make any profit? Who is going to pay them an NHL level pay when they can't even support an AHL level 70k salary? Are fans ready to have the league contract to afford women's games?
And what happens if it fails? Do we keep it going and keep losing money in the name of "equality" or do we fold the league and hear about sexism again?